Next year's iPads might feature Face ID

Apple iPhone X with Face ID technology

Although the hardware needed to manufacture Face ID-enabled devices is in short supply right now, Apple is expected to speed things up and to add this technology to at least one of the iPad tablets to launch in 2018.

The iPhone X is Apple's first handset to feature Face ID facial recognition, but since this handset is very popular, it is only a matter of time until its strongest feats find their way to other Apple products. We already heard that the first ones to get it would be other iPhones, but the Cupertino giant still has to confirm this. However, a new report that comes via Bloomberg claims that a first iPad with Face ID is in the works and should arrive next year.

According to the insiders familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg Technology, the new iPad model will drop the home button once and for all, but the chance to see it packing an OLED touchscreen display is quite slim. In addition to the Face ID technology, the new iPad also would inherit the slimmer edges of the iPhone X.

Bloomberg's anonymous sources claim that at least one such iPad with a screen size around the 10.5-inch mark is in the works. This new tablet would use Face ID for unlocking and for making payments, as well as for sending animated emojis that match the user's facial expression.

To make sure the new iPad comes with enough changes to make it interesting, we hear that Apple also plans to give it a new processor and an updated graphics adapter, next to an updated Apple Pencil stylus and new software tools for it.

The Face ID-enabled iPad is expected to launch about a year after the last major iPad Pro upgrade, so we should expect it to hit the market next summer if everything goes smoothly. Since Apple apparently will not make the move to an OLED display, the only thing that could delay the new iPad is the failure to increase the output of hardware parts required by Face ID.

Although I have been writing about new software and hardware for almost a decade, I consider myself to be old school. I always enjoy listening to music on CD or tape instead of digital files and I will not even get into the touchscreen vs physical keys debate. However, I also enjoy new technology, as I now have the chance to take a look at the future every day. I joined the Notebookcheck crew back in 2013 and I have no plans to leave the ship anytime soon.